Simply put,
James Tuller, who had been chief of the New
York City Police Department Transportation Bureau and who for four months
had been acting
as the designated chief of the Puerto Rico Police Department turned out…
…to be
cheating on his taxes.
Or maybe
not—who knows? But Tuller has been married since 1996, and yet for four years
he filed as a single person. So that presented a bit of a challenge, since
those pesky senators in charge of approving his nomination were insisting on
seeing the tax returns. So what did Tuller do?
Well, he
had a couple of strategies—the first of which was to stall. And though it’s
true that we tend to move a bit more slowly than those goose-stepping Germans,
stalling is a tactic that only works so long.
So the next
thing to do was to run up to New York and amend his tax returns. But it turned
out—curious, this—that there was a little difference between what he had to pay
as a single person versus a married person. Oh, and there were penalties, as
well. Nevertheless, he forked over $30,000 to the State of New York. (according
to one report,
he took five days off work to go up to New York to settle these trifles and get
the silly paperwork…)
Did that
make the senators happy? By no means. Intent on picking every nit, the senators
demanded that Tuller pay the IRS as well. Then they’d see about the
nomination—no promises.
So that led
to the next problem, which was that Tuller didn’t have the dough, despite
making close to 200,000 bucks a year. He was willing, though, to agree to a
payment plan. But the senators still balked at assuring him of his nomination.
So on Monday night, after 121 days on the job, this excellent though somewhat
forgetful public servant made the decision: he would retire his name for
consideration.
This has
left even members of the governor’s own party wondering what in the world went
wrong. Part of it, of course, was
that there was a scramble to find a police superintendent in the first place,
since Tuller’s
predecessor had up and left one day, all but flipping the bird at the
governor as he rode to the airport. And it came at a rather poor time, since
the senate was not in session, and it was Christmas.
Ah,
Christmas—which in Puerto Rico generally begins the day after Thanksgiving Day
and continues until at least the end of January—Fiestas de la Calle de San
Sebastián—after the octavitas. So really, it’s only been a couple of
months since any of us have had time to trouble ourselves about inessentials
like appointing a police chief.
Well, it’s
all a little troubling, since we also don’t have a secretary of justice, since that
guy got into a little trouble
when he went to the police station with his friend. His friend, you see, had
been drinking at a party—well, that’s what you do at parties, isn’t it?
And look, you gotta get home, don’t you? Does everybody have to be so
unreasonable?
Right, so
everything would have been fine if only the friend hadn’t pulled out his cell
phone while driving—a crime in Puerto Rico. And of course, there had to be that
nosy cop, who pulled the friend over, and noted the strong smell of alcohol.
So the
papers had a field day with the Secretary of Justice, who had done what any
friend would do: gone to the aid of his friend to the police headquarters, to
ensure that everything was handled correctly. What harm could there be in that?
So it’s all
a bit dampening, especially for the governor, who had to come out in today’s
print version of El Nuevo Día as
saying, “entiendo, por la información pública que ha surgido….” Or, “I
understand, from the public information that has surfaced…” The Gov,
apparently, is a regular guy like you or me—getting his news by reading the
paper on the bus to work. See?
And all
this comes at a rather unsettling time, since the United States Department of
Justice…wait, let those fire-breathing liberals from the ACLU tell
you about it:
A
report released by the ACLU in June 2012 concludes that the Puerto Rico Police
Department is plagued by a culture of unrestrained abuse and impunity. The PRPD
– which, with over 17,000 officers, is the second-largest police department in
the U.S – is charged with policing the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
In
July 2013, the U.S. Justice Department entered into a legally binding consent
decree with the Puerto Rican government that requires sweeping reforms to end
the widespread police brutality on the island.
Well, to
make sure that the police department complies with the “sweeping reforms,”
Tuller appointed
a retired US Army colonel, Michelle Hernández de
Fraley, to oversee the whole process. And good luck to her, since the US
Department of Justice determined
that the police practiced discrimination, especially against blacks and
Dominicans, were poorly trained, and didn’t investigate cases of domestic
abuse. Oh, and that they used excessive force, especially in cases of peaceful
protest.
Nor is that
the only challenge she might face, if nominated and approved. Because we have
more police officers than any place I have ever seen—but the monthly pay for
our cops? It’s $2,600, or slightly
over 30,000 dollars annually. On the island, that’s not bad—but consider,
the other news of this morning: the police
hauled in nearly two tons of cocaine in an interception off the north coast
of Puerto Rico. In fact, in March alone, the police have pulled in nearly three
tons of cocaine.
And what
does that mean?
Well, we’re awash in drugs, and with the drugs comes the money, and with the money?
Corruption—which is a distinct possibility. How much honesty does a base salary
of $30,000 buy you?
The sad
news is that the previous chief of police was—by all accounts—a
very effective guy who had the support of the force, even as he was changing
it. And the one who just left?
By all
accounts an excellent guy…
Look, he
just cheated on his taxes….
